IBM India gives double-digit salary hikes

Over 100,000 employees at the Indian operations of technology services company IBM received better-than-expected salary hikes this year, in stark contrast to the single digit raises at Indian IT firms.

Over 100,000 employees at the Indian operations of technology services company IBM received better-than-expected salary hikes this year, in stark contrast to the single digit raises at Indian IT firms.

At least three IBM employees told that the raises were in the range of 10-25% depending on the employee's seniority level and the business unit they belong to.

Over the past three months, top Indian IT firms offered meagre wage hikes, mostly in the range of 5 to 10 %. Country's No 1 IT firm, Tata Consultancy Services, gave around 8 to 10 % to its employees based in India while HCL Technologies awarded around 8%.

"It's been a good year," a senior manager based in IBMs Bangalore office said, referring to company's overall performance during the year under review.

IBM India, with Rs15,413 crore in revenues according to Cybermedia Research, did better than last year when it gave out single digit pay raises. The US multi-national does not disclose its India headcount.

An employee who has been with IBM's Global Business Services unit for over 4 years said that most of his colleagues got raises in the range of 7 to 15%. GBS, which accounts for 20% of IBM's revenue globally, provides services such as management consulting, application management and system integration.

"Hikes in general have been good. Last year, those who were on the top recieved around 12 percent but this year even those who are lesser than the best got good raises," an employee said on conditions of anonymity.

During its fourth quarter earnings in April, No 2 IT firm Infosys had announced that it would not offer any salary increments this year as the management's visibility on near term growth was limited. Last month, Infosys lowered its dollar revenue growth forecast for the year to March to 5%, down from 8-10% it had projected three months before that. The company had said that it will give out 16,000 promotions this year, as against 18,000 last year.

Hyderabad-based Mahindra Satyam, which offered 8 to 12 percent salary hike last year, has also said that it would go for a tightening on salary hikes this year.

Industry body Nasscom has projected that growth for India's software services sector this year will slow down to between 10% and 14% in dollar terms while the domestic market would grow 13-16 % in rupee terms.